What does it mean for education that our societies are ageing? Or that the Internet is playing an ever larger role in our lives? Does it matter for schools that populations are increasingly overweight?

This book is designed to help policy makers, managers and practitioners in education to think about developments like these and to support long-term strategic thinking in education. It fills an important need: decision makers and practitioners in education often have only anecdotal or local information on the trends shaping education; too often they do not have solid facts in front of them.

This volume presents 26 major trends in the context of education, grouped in 9 broad themes. For each trend, there is a two-page spread, containing a short introduction, two figures with accompanying text followed by three key questions about the impact of the trend on the future of education. A dynamic link (StatLink) is provided for each figure, which directs the user to a web page where the corresponding data are available in Excel®.

Table of contents

Introduction1. Ageing OECD Societies
- Fewer children
- Living longer
- Changing age structures
- Find out more2. Global Challenges
- Our crowded planet
- International divides of affluence and poverty
- Populations on the move
- Global environmental challenges
- Find out more3. Towards a New Economic Landscape
- The global economy
- Knowledge-intensive service economies
- Find out more4. The Changing World of Work and Jobs- Lives less dominated by work?
- Less securely attached to the labour market?
- Women at work
- Find out more5. The Learning Society
- Educational attainment
- Rising investments in education
- Global educational patterns – inequalities and student flows
- Find out more6. ICT: The Next Generation
- The digital revolution
- The expanding World Wide Web
- Towards Web 2.0?
- Find out more7. Citizenship and the State
- Changing forms of political participation
- The role of the welfare state – smaller government?
- Find out more8. Social Connections and Values
- Living in more diverse families
- Less social interaction?
- Evolving values
- Find out more9. Sustainable Affluence?- Growing affluence, growing energy consumption
- Inequality on the rise
- Lifestyles with health risks
- Find out more

And education?

What role do schools play, through implicit messages and explicit guidance, in shaping the career and professional (as well as educational) choices of girls and boys? What are the priorities for further change in this respect?

How are schools experiencing the impact of ever-greater numbers of mothers with full professional careers? Has it changed the balance of responsibilities between schools and families in raising children – for better or worse? – and has it altered relations between fathers and schools?

How are the trends to greater feminisation of the teaching force being experienced by schools and teachers? Should policy seek to modify the trend and if so in what way?

How to obtain this publication

Readers can access the full version of Trends Shaping Education – 2008 Edition choosing from the following options: